I patiently await this. I liked the style they employed on their self-titled, but I hope they release the lyrics this time. The music was very dark and brooding, and so were the song titles, but of the lyrics, nothing is known, and that's not good.

Ash Borer's self-titled album from last year was fairly good, but for me it ultimately failed to stand out enough in the endless sea of other atmospheric black releases. The album did however show some promise and with the newly released Cold of Ages it really feels like the band has taken a step in the right direction.

Everything about Cold of Ages is so much more grandiose in comparison to the debut which is evident in the longer duration. There is a bigger emphasis on calmer interludes this time around and Jessica Way of Worm Ouroboros lends her soothing vocals on a couple of the songs which I had nothing against. On the contrary, the last minutes of "Removed Forms" actually gave me goose bumps. Other than that, the main strength of the album is the instrumentation which constantly remains interesting and varied enough. If I had to complain about something, it would be that the music still lacks some personality and that the vocals are too buried in the mix at times.